SOUL ALIVE - Creative | Intuitive | Visionary

When my plan wasn’t working

Once upon a time, when my micro business was only a few months old, I was feeling overwhelmed by the myriad of tasks I needed to do. I’d already created my website, which was a marathon in itself. But I still had a list as long as my arm of tasks I didn’t have the skills for. Rather than wallow in misery, I did what I know best. I made an Intuitive Vision Board.

Smack bang in the middle of it was the large head of a Buddleja, otherwise known as the ‘butterfly plant’. You can guess why; it's a magnet to butterflies. Alongside I’d pasted the words: “create a buzz”.

I had no rational reason for choosing a Buddleja but it was no surprise either because this is my creative process: to purposefully set out to distract my left-brain in order to have a conversation with my right-brain. This required me to let go of what I thought I should be doing by choosing pictures to represent this and allow the images to choose me. I wanted to open the windows and let some fresh air in.

The next day when I re-visited my vision board, I chuckled to see the Buddleja because the first thing I thought of was a hand-held microphone. Little did I know …

Serendipity

Within seven months of creating this Intuitive Vision Board, here’s what transpired - absolutely none of which I’d considered or planned for beforehand. Yet all of these, as far as I could tell, had some association with the ‘hand-held microphone’ and finding my public voice.

* I started writing newsletters and blogs regularly

* I appeared on TV for the first time talking about intuitive vision boards

* I had three separate interviews on the radio

* I began writing my book about Intuitive Vision Boards

* I sang my first-ever solo on stage in front of 150 people

* I made three commercial videos

On the air with Emma-Jane Taylor on Oxford TV

At the same time I was intrigued to discover I actually had a large Buddleja growing at the entrance to my property, which I'd not noticed before because I’d moved house in the depths of winter.

During the summer, while I was in full swing with the book writing, 30 large blooms formed a protective arch for me to pass under - a constant reminder of my current focus to create a buzz.

Risk

From a psychotherapy point of view the Buddleja on my intuitive vision board was a transformational symbol. At the same time it was directing me towards the most effective route to develop my business. I had not previously considered any of those “microphone activities” yet as they came into my awareness, I tried them on - even when it was a stretch, involved a small risk, and an element of fear.

And what had my logical left-brain (LL) planned for me to be doing instead before my remarkable right-brain (RR) stepped in and redirected the course of history with the Intuitive Vision Board?

It sinks my spirits just to recall the massive ‘to do list’ I faced every day, systematically addressing tasks I found tedious - like mastering each social media platform in turn and writing a business plan. My progress was slow and I was very frustrated. If I’d made a vision board in the traditional way to reflect the intentions I’d set for myself, it would have looked very different from the one I created.

I’m not suggesting the logical left-brain is now redundant or the tasks on my “to do list” are not valid, ever. It’s simply these decisions were being taken too early by LL when it’s strength is not to propose solutions that provide a quantum leap forward. LL needs to be at the service of RR otherwise the outcome will always be limited.

It’s not LL’s fault; it can’t help itself. It only works with data that is known already, which has been speculated accounts for a mere 5-8% of our available intelligence. RR on the other hand has access to that vast, awesome sea of possibility and a rich treasure trove of ideas and inspiration, which is the other 92% of our available intelligence. Therefore by engaging RR in making my intuitive vision board, I entertained ideas that had never entered my conscious awareness before. And these RR nudges added momentum to my business life more effectively than all my LL thinking put together.

The Intuitive Vision Board is not a panacea but it certainly provided me with the best guidance I needed at this time. There is so much I could share with you about this particular intuitive vision board but I’ll settle for one final image, which also changed the face of my business.

Manifesting Woman-Friday

Woman-Friday

See the man above sat at the desk alongside the Buddleja? When I first saw him I thought: he’ll do, he looks busy and creative to me but not a suitable romantic partner.” Then I had the subsequent thought: “He’s working for me. He’s my Man Friday!”

Until then I had not considered employing anyone in the foreseeable future. Like many micro business owners, I didn’t think I could afford to. But acting on this RR nudge, I posted an advertisement on-line. It said: “Wanted. Part-time Man-Friday to provide computer and social media expertise to a struggling creative.”

I had three replies within a day. The first came from a man who looked like the image on my board and helped me over some initial hurdles. The second reply came from a woman who lived three minutes walk away. She offered to be my Woman-Friday and has been working for me every since.

Am I grateful for Deborah? Yes! Could I afford her? No, my LL still proclaims! But I went ahead and defiantly afforded her anyway. Her presence has allowed me to progress much faster than my scrabbling around trying to do everything myself. The third reply was from another talented candidate, by the way.

Do you see how this works?

I didn’t make the vision board to reflect previously conceived ideas of what I thought I should be doing otherwise this exercise would be little more than goal-setting using pictures. There’s nothing wrong with the latter and it is more common but, it has limitations which you now understand.

Neither am I saying this style of vision board can’t work; it can. But when the linear intelligence of LL alone decides what images should be on your board, it can’t take into account the biggest picture. Consequently you could potentially be focusing on the wrong things.

And, if you've decided in advance of making your board what your goals and aspirations are, you’ll need to rely on your will-power alone to pummel them into existence. The alternative is to align with super-consciousness via your intuitive vision board because then you align with universal intelligence and its will-power is limitless.

May the force be with you

My recommendation is to get out of your own way. Open up to your innate intuitive intelligence and allow your imagination free-range when it comes to making your intuitive vision board. Be excited and curious about the images that appear.

And then make sure you stay alert to the gentle promptings to action you’ll receive in the subsequent months ahead. Don’t ignore them just because they seem inconvenient to LL who will try to convince you to wait for a more opportune moment. Do it anyway. At least be curious enough to do something with the guidance you receive, otherwise it's like uncovering hidden treasure and then throwing it away.

Don't expect an overnight result from this creative process either. It took me seven months in this example for the vision to complete its form. There is a perfect moment when it comes to manifesting a vision when providence moves with you too - but in its own time and on its own terms. In the interim, it pays to cultivate patience, which is something I had to learn but now I’ve come to trust.

If your New Year's resolutions are already wilting on the vine try making an Intuitive Vision Board instead. 90% of successful people swear by them, including Oprah and Beyonce.

A vision board is a creative tool. Essentially it's a collage - and by making it, focuses your attention on what you really want to do, be or have in your life.

It looks easy enough, cutting out images from magazines and sticking them onto a board to represent your ideas. But there's also an art and a science behind the not-so-superficial Vision Board; Creative Arts Therapy and Neuroscience. Without a skilled facilitator to guide you into more meaningful territory, you could end up with the same-old predictable ideas appearing on your Board. Or, in the case of the DIY scenario, get bored half way through your creation, wander off and leave your vision incomplete.

What’s wrong with New Year resolutions?Nothing as such. It's just they're made by the head - the logical left-brain along with most of our decision-making. If you allow the logical left-brain to take the lead in making a Vision Board, you'll be foraging in a dry water bed. It's boring and unimaginative.

Here's what can happen. Classes in my health club are packed in January with massive waiting lists. By February it’s back to normal again. Why? Because the resolutions were made with the head and not the heart, so it becomes a myopic Do List with no passion or feeling behind it.

On the other hand, making an Intuitive Vision Board with the intuitive right-brain will help to clarify your real priorities and keep you focused on the right things. The outcome can be innovative and radical. You'll also gain a more balanced perspective of what is best for you.

Here are the differences between the two.

Logical left-brain in charge

moves fast

wants quick results

competitive motivation

cuts corners

no time for sentiment or sweet humanity

Logical left believes you should only return to your softer aspirations, like attending a Vegan cookery school, when your loftier goals are achieved. What this limited thinking fails to take into account is the Vegan cookery school could be just what you need to boost your vitality and enable those loftier goals to be achieved with less effort.

By going to a different place and meeting a new crowd of people could set in motion a whole sequence of synchronicity, not calculable in advance, to steer you in the best direction of what you desire the most.

Intuitive Right-brain at the wheel

softer, fluid approach

moves slower

responds to symbolism and metaphor

enjoys the poetics of colour and form

and goddammit, it's illogical!

In my Intuitive Vision Board Workshops I facilitate a right-brain approach exclusively. I respect the meandering way intuitive intelligence operates, feeling its way into selecting the images and creating an intriguing and meaningful constellation on the Vision Board.

I love to observe people working in the creative 'zone'. The energy and the space around them expands exponentially. I also know from past experience the probability of them achieving a personal break-through is very high.

Have you heard the line from James Joyce's 'The Dubliners'? "Mr Duffy lived a short distance from his body." It sums up this state of affairs perfectly and I chuckle every time I read it.

There isn't anywhere we can go without our body goes too. It is an essential part of our humanity yet so many of us can forget this as we trundle along with a disembodied head perched on a stick (our spine) which bears no relation to the rest of our anatomy.

I run movement workshops to rectify this. I am on a mission to create more awareness of the kinaesthetic body because when we become dissociated from our it, we are weakened physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually.

My meditative movement practice is called Moving with Mindfulness. I draw on natural movement, which everyone is capable of to encourage our bodily experience of relationship and connection to ourselves, each other and the environment, which is all most empowering.

It's only when we inhabit our body to the same degree we can occupy our minds that we can appreciate what wholeness means.

We spend the morning widening our movement vocabulary and exploring beyond our habitual patterns of motion. We gain confidence in extending our boundaries to occupy the whole studio space and avoid becoming glued to the spot as you do when dancing in a club. This brings a sense of freedom and possibility as we claim new ground for ourselves.

“I enjoyed connecting with the group and a chance to explore my feelings and myself physically. I love Mary’s movement courses and I feel alive and enriched by the experience I have. It fills a need in me to move creatively and with meaning. I leave feeling both grounded and uplifted which is quite an achievement.” Debbie, Adult Dyslexia Specialist.

With our bodies enlivened and attentive through the movement preparation, we take to lying on the floor. In turn and with care, we outline a full-size body print for each other. While inhabiting these body-scapes, Doreen Gowing, Hypnotherapist, leads a guided visualisation to help us let go and drop deeper into our bodies.

We allow plenty of time to colour in our body prints in whichever way we feel fit, intuitively not logically because there is no right or wrong way to do this. The room quickly fills with body portraits and after lunch we tour the gallery together.

In pairs, we take turns to dance for our partner the energy of the body portrait we have created.

“How do I do this?” the head protests while the body knows exactly what dance is needed and how to do it with our partner as our witness.

"The Body Portrait process is unique for gently revealing and reminding me of my inner self. Working with a partner magnified what I knew already as well as throw a light on parts I had forgotten or hidden.” Doreen, Hypnotherapist

Then it is our partner's turn to give their movement response to what they had seen so that when the dance baton was returned to the original dancer, they were inspired to continue moving with it further. What had been resting just below the surface immediately became visible, both in the body portrait and the dance that accompanied it. It was a joy to see and a wonder to be shared and celebrated.

Please check my Events page for the next public Moving with Mindfulness workshop. I'm also available to facilitate this process to any private peer groups. Or if you’d like to explore Moving with Mindfulness with me one-to-one, you can always join me in the studio.

“It was a beautiful and powerful process. Moving together with a partner and having my movement reflected back then interpreting the movement and the body drawing I’d created was very valuable.” C. Barnes, Business Consultant.

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I have a £800 Nikon strung over my shoulder and a JVC camcorder around my neck and I’m prayin’ to Mary that I don’t slip on the cobbled stones of Penrose Quay into the Atlantic waters while I'm here to make a video.

Those colourful boats on my Intuitive Vision Board (top left) have been working their Irish magic again. Only a few months ago they took me on an all-expenses paid trip to a rural suburb of Dublin as a visiting “tour guide”. This time they've led me to Cork for a week.

I’m working on a building site in a cleverly reclaimed wharf, accompanied by two engineers. It was never supposed to be a building site but work is so far behind schedule that I’m surrounded by men of all trades doing their thing. It’s dirty, noisy and fascinating.

I've never worked alongside men who use their bodies and hands each day. I'll be honest and say I held a prejudice there would be a lot of testosterone flying around and vying for position in the hierarchy. What struck me more was the courtesy and respect shown by the men towards each other.

The only firework moment was when a man pasting vinyl didn’t realise the touch-activated shower on the wall behind it was switched on - and it drenched him. His swearing in a Cork accent, incomprehensible at the best of times, was really more entertaining than scarey.

I was on my feet for 8-9 hour days filming. So were the engineers I was accompanying to install the two float rooms.

It went through my mind how satisfying it must be to make something and see it materialise before your very eyes, channelling all that masculine energy into it rather than just being sat behind a desk every day.

Meanwhile I was very grateful to be able to retire to a comfortable, elegant spa hotel and peel off my dusty clothes to relax and freshen up.

This is a float room (right) by the way. It's a private, ambient bath tub where you lay on your back in silence, darkness too if you prefer, suspended on a dense Epsom Salt solution - a bit like floating in the Dead Sea.

For the past three years I’ve worked part-time for the market leader selling their float rooms around the world. The UK, Holland, Canada, USA, New Zealand and Australia are the biggest markets. I even attended a Float Conference in Oregon last year; it's a growing industry.

The people who gravitate to this business are inclined to be spiritual by nature and have a desire to foster that in others. I enjoy encouraging them to establish their havens of floating tranquility where they can let go of all the stresses, tensions and worries of life for an hour at least. For those of you who've worked with me will know how well this sits alongside my own modus operandi.

How did my floating life transpire? Just over three years ago my practice was fledgling while I was slowly emerging from the roughest, toughest period in Mary Nondé recorded history. At that time I attended a Tango dance lesson and found myself paired with an Aussie. When I heard he was a business owner, I asked whether he knew of anyone who could offer me part-time work. He wasn’t looking but he liked the sound of what I could do. No CV, no interview. Just a month’s trial - and I've been working for them ever since.

Yes, there's a woman floating on my Intuitive Vision Board below! I made this board before the floatation company came on my scene six months later. Up until then I'd only floated once at a Spa. She was a premonition for sure, alongside the three photos of the ocean and including the bed-on-the-rocks beside the sea (to dream for), and Daniel Craig walking towards me.

So here's the craic. The floatation company I've been working for is called Ocean Float Rooms. It's like having a bed by the sea.And the owner has the body and stature of Daniel Craig, as far as I can tell.

Warm and ambient wishes, Mary

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Most single women who make a Vision Board have in the back of their mind the desire for a partner to share their life with. I often see images of couples in an embrace or enjoying each other’s company. It’s rare the vision board maker is so brazen as to pick an image of a couple quite blatantly getting married. But on Anne’s board there were two!

Anne was in a long-term relationship of 16-year duration. During this time her partner had proposed a couple of times but Anne hadn’t been ready for it. Her hands were full running a family business, which she’d taken over from her parents, and she’d been raising two children too. Because she couldn’t see her way beyond these commitments, her partner had dropped it. So when the images of wedding couples first appeared, she assumed it was to do with her son getting married.

Five months later it was a different story. She had now sold the family business and shed the all-consuming identity that went with it. She was entering a new phase of her life with a different set of needs and values emerging. Not surprisingly, marriage seemed entirely appropriate to her now and it was she who popped the question to her partner - who readily accepted. It was only after this she remembered the images of the two wedding couples on her Vision Board.

When people are making their Vision Boards I always encourage them not to plan in advance what images should appear. The creator begins their exploration with an empty mind and a blank sheet of paper. And I continue to go to great lengths to ensure their cognitive mind is occupied in order to give their intuitive intelligence the chance to have a voice.

If a single woman desires a relationship - yet an obvious representation does not fall into her hands on the day of the workshop - then I encourage her to leave it alone. It's safer to assume it’s not part of her programme for the foreseeable future and she has other priorities..

Obviously she can still willfully find a picture and stick it in the centre. However, in the grander scheme of things, this might be a distraction and cause her to miss out on something important beckoning to her, if she'd stayed out of her own way.

I speak from experience. For four years the only images of men I found were either in the distance or with their backs towards me! I had to accept for whatever reason I needed time alone and kept following the signs to learn what was required of me in the interim. In retrospect I can see that what I’d been doing would have been quite difficult had I also been developing a relationship as well. C’est la vie.

Diamonds are forever. There's one final twist to Anne's tale. Within a month of completing her Vision Board, Anne came across a craftsmen and fell in love with a stunning pair of his earrings. She told her ‘James Bond’ partner about them who gallantly purchased them for her.

Now take a closer look at her Vision Board above. Can you see how Anne had already pictured a pair of earrings next to the couple getting married – and next to the same couple, a picture of daisies in a similar shape and style to the diamond earrings? Magic!

So here’s to a woman’s heart’s desire and to the James Bond’s of this world willing to meet it, warm wishes Mary.

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Recently I was faced with a conundrum. I was ready to let go of my lovely flat in Marlow which had served me well for two years, yet where I was to move to instead was a mystery. With my daughter due back from University any minute for five weeks, I chose to park fretting about it and enjoy my time with her instead.

About a week later out of the blue a very good friend called me. Her mother had just died after a long and graceful decline and she asked me if I'd go over the next day and give her some Reiki. As I lay my hands on her shoulders, she said: “Mary would you like to come and live here until I get around to selling this house. You can finish writing your book. There’s a room for Celine too. And Willow is accustomed to sleep overs here anyway.” I was gob-smacked - and delighted. Here was a clear way forward without me having to use willpower and must to arrive at it.

I recalled the two doors at the top of my Intuitive Vision Board: one door closed and the other slightly ajar. When the imagery of front doors appears on Vision Boards, it frequently represents moving house. Front doors often and also sit in the “Career/Path in Life" area of the Bagua map used in Feng Shui, which is the entry point of chi into the home and the area to work on to encourage movement generally. I had no plans to change home when I made this particular Vision Board but the deeper part had clearly known otherwise.

"Hidden Treasure." The words alongside the two doors resonated with me too. The value of the intuitive work I do with Vision Boards is to help people to reclaim their hidden treasure - the diamonds in their back yard which so often get overlooked because they're right under their noses.

Ou est Marie? Now folks to find me you cross the white ornate bridge with Marlow behind you and zig-zag up the steep gradient of Winter Hill, heavily populated by cyclists at weekends since the Olympics. Be sure to take in the wonderful view from the summit before dropping into Cookham Dean and coming to rest at my friend’s home nestled in the trees opposite Herries prep school. All that playful, creative energy coming my way surrounded by nature. It affords me the perfect environment to complete the writing of my book.

We have our own dance studio too. YES! Since we’re both dancers we’ve dedicated the large open-plan lounge, with floor to ceiling views of the garden, to somatic movement. Now anyone wanting to book in for a dance-movement session it's easy peasy. Drop me a line using the sign up below, or email mary@marynonde.com, or give me a call on 0782 7017188.

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In the summer of 2016 I ran a prize draw to win a place on my Intuitive Vision Board workshop and gather data for my book. The winner was Lisa whom I’d never met before. The day I informed her of her prize she was giving birth to Esme. Not surprisingly it was week’s later that she accepted her prize

Seven months on... and an Intuitive Vision Board workshop and coaching session session behind her, and a Feng Shui consultation later (to create her home congruent with her vision), both Lisa and Esme are flying.

“Hi Mary, I just thought I’d let you know the Vision Board and our conversations have worked wonders. I got a camera as a gift for Christmas and so far have completed two photography courses as well as online study.

“It feels so good to have the excitement and creativity back into my life beyond being a mum and homemaker. It’s all new learning and it’s driving my confidence back up without the need to look to someone else for it.”

“We have also started digging the foundations for the extension so it looks like the magic of the board and the Feng Shui is working very quickly this year.”

Here are some of Lisa’s photos... You can see above how baby Esme has grown. And with three other children too, Lisa is a full-on full-time mum and needs her home to be just right so she can function at her best.

Her husband’s a brick. Yes, literally, he’s a builder. And this is rather handy because the extension they are planning is a large and visionary undertaking.

Lisa's story reminded me that once upon a time I was raising my daughter solo and running a Feng Shui practice. The latter was becoming increasingly difficult to manage alongside and I needed to make changes. Someone suggested I go back to University to study dance and the somatic arts. It was something I loved to do for myself and I thought it might sit well alongside parenting. All it took was a 5-minute Google search to find the perfect course.

Within months I was accepted as a mature student and underway with a PGCE in Dance. I was delighted. Chichester was 2 ½ hours drive away from home but I managed it there and back in a day. The degree evolved into an MA in Somatic Arts Psychotherapy and so it came to pass that between the ages of 7 to 12, 'mother' was re-educated too and involved her daughter in as many of the dance and creative activities as she could.

Similarly to Lisa I stepped into my creative stream which was just ripe for me to explore yet without compromising my other important commitments. I’d loved the learning. I enjoyed the contact with my peers. I had no real idea where it would lead beyond teaching creative dance in local schools and a weekly class for adults. It was never going to be a massive money-spinner, but neither was it time-intensive. However, it was fun, thought-provoking and very creative - and I loved facilitating it.

What might you take from this?

1. Have you found your stream – something that awakens and excites you? It doesn't matter how seemingly crazy and not related to anything that's gone before it is. The discontinuous the better. If you don’t know what it might be, come and make a Vision Board with me and it will become very evident.

2. Don’t start to future-scope where the stream is going and whether you’ll be earning enough money at the end of it. Try it on as a hobby and bring your full presence and joy to it. If the activity makes your soul sing, it will have a splendid knock on effect on everyone you come into contact with; spread the joy.

3. Your stream is likely to be at the bottom of your garden. You might think you're seeking a BIG river with a massive flow. Not necessarily. Lisa found her stream in photography and took courses at Jessop’s in the next town. Okay so I went further afield but I enjoyed the travel (most of the time) for the time to be with my own thoughts.

4. Accept the stream won’t always flow smoothly. It may be rocky at times and downright challenging to stay in it. But ultimately it can lead you to longer-lasting, eudaimonistic fulfillment versus a shorter hedonistic thrill. It is the place you can return to when the world feels like a fearful place and doubts and uncertainties threaten to take you over. Peace reigns over your land.

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I have three clients in the West Country. So what are the chances that two of them live 7 miles apart when I live 225 miles away from them! And that their names both begin with the letter “J”.

Since this was too much of a coincidence to miss, when I visited Jay1 recently to review her Intuitive Vision Board and use Feng Shui to align her home with her vision, I called on Jay2 beforehand.

Jay2 made an Intuitive Vision Board with me in February 2016. Prior to this, she and her husband had decided they were going to up-sticks and move West at the first opportunity, close to her favourite beaches.

There were three hurdles to overcome first:

1. He was still in full-time employment. 2. Putting their existing house on the market and selling it. 3. Sourcing a new home.

When I'd gone through Jay2’s Board, we looked together at images of a grandiose house and extensive landscaped gardens with high chiseled hedges as in a maze. “I don’t know what that’s about”, she said “ we won’t be able to afford a place like that!”

8 months later I arrive on Jay2’s doorstep just as the sun is going down. But with just enough light for her to walk me through extensive terraced gardens with tall chiselled hedges and secret hideaways little people would just love to explore, and every turn in the path revealing yet another bird table. All this situated on their own private hillside which cascaded down to a stream at its base, lined with beautiful trees we imagined filled with daffodils and bluebells in the springtime.

HOW MANY OF THESE IMAGES DO YOU NOW SEE ON HER INTUITIVE VISION BOARD BELOW?

As darkness descended we retreated inside the stone-clad home - Yes, like the one on her Board. The wood-burning stove - just like the one in the photograph and came with the house, welcomed us into the lounge, creating a gorgeous hygge effect.

Jay2 could hardly contain her excitement as she talked about the plans for the new off-white kitchen – a sizeable undertaking that would begin in three days time and take three weeks to complete. How did she know her new home would require a new off-white kitchen when she placed it on her board 8 months earlier?

We laughed as she showed me around the rest of the house and described how they were spoilt for choice when it came to toilets because this house had five! No wonder the elephant is dancing upside down on one of those loos!

With the money from the home they’d sold in Beaconsfield, they’d been able to afford this grand property in Cornwall in the grounds of an international Golf Resort used by pros and providing Jay2 with a glamorous health club right on her doorstep. Maybe that's why she placed three different swimmers enjoying the water on her board.

In the centre of her Vision Board is a charming photo of two penguins walking together.“ That’s me and my husband” she explained. “We hope to travel when he retires.”

Within four months of making the Intuitive Vision Board her husband did indeed retire. They put their house on the market immediately and shot down to the south west to take a week viewing properties in their chosen location. The moment they stepped into their new home they fell in love with it. It, on the other hand, had been waiting for them for two years - empty. On their return to Beaconsfield, their house sold quickly and they moved - all within 5 months of creating her vision board!

Postscript to the Penguins. Jay2 and her husband did indeed start to travel, only one month after moving in. They took off to Canada and saw mountainous scenery just like the backdrop behind the penguins. Staying with their son on Vancouver Island, they visited wild and windy driftwood beaches which closely resembled those on her board.

Their son lives in a timber-framed property with 360 degree views of forest and has the odd black bear who likes to visit and rummage through their bins. Most intriguingly of all, he had placed a line of coloured vases in a row on a high beam in their home to catch the light. Oh, you mean like the colourful collection of vases on Jay2's board? How intuitive is that!

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A client of mine, Susan O, has admirably came to terms with her retail therapy habit by using Feng Shui and De-cluttering methods.

I caught up with her recently and she told me how her resolve to stay solvent had been severely tested.

See if you can relate to this. Or maybe you know someone who is similarly prone to shopping rather than confront what is real causing the behavioural problem?

“In the space of one week I found myself buying a brand-new carpet and a new car. One was on order and the other sitting in my parking lot while I sat inside the house painfully ruminating on both decisions. I felt psychologically drained and tethered by the credit arrangements I’d just taken on."

“The car had come about because I’d gone in for a routine service and was persuaded to try a Fiat courtesy car. Even as I drove the vehicle home, with all the papers signed, my daughter’s words rang in my ears: "we don’t need a new car, Mum. We can manage with the one we’ve got!”

“Fortunately, there was a loophole in Fiat's financial calculations. I didn’t have the money to sustain the increased payments required, which would have left me with no disposable income. I used this as my get-out opportunity."

“With the carpet I was even braver with no loophole to fall back on. I was booked to have it fitted on a Saturday and on the Monday beforehand I called and cancelled the order. The carpet man was confrontational but when I said I was very sorry and would he accept a cancellation fee, he backed down and even wavered the fee. Now I'm clear of the danger zone, I can clearly see we can manage perfectly well with the existing carpet and avoid the upheaval the fitting of a new carpet brings."

“It was a close shave on both accounts and I felt I'd been tested. It was evident to me that my psychological perspective had shifted. I feel stronger and no longer a victim so I'm much less of a risk to myself and far less prone to putting myself under financial pressure again."

If you consider Feng Shui and Decluttering might help someone you know please put them in touch. The advantages of this therapeutic approach is its immediacy; the changes are made on the spot and often directly where the dysfunction occurs. Please give me a call if there on 07827017188 if there is anything you'd like to explore or email mary@marynonde.com or use the sign up below.

The obvious advantage is you don't have to leave the safety of the counselling space to return home to implement the remedial actions on your own. I am right there with you.

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Pina Bausch, dancer and choreographer extraordinaire strikes a powerful chord. Dance is not just about technical perfection which means only a minority should pursue it. It's also about giving the soul a voice through movement. And this practice is inclusive and as old as the hills.

I’m in the throes of learning West Coast Swing. There’s a woman in my class who’s in her late 70s. You’d never believe it to see her move, let alone the way she dresses. She always has a big smile on her face when she dances, while her husband is at home watching the rugby. I’ll wager a bet on which one of them lives the longest.

While I’ll always try my hand at any dance form, the method I believe offers the greatest potential for restoring your equilibrium on all levels has no prescribed form. It’s organic. It’s natural. And has nothing to do with following the prescribed moves of the teacher.

The fastest route to stillness. I currently call my practice Moving with Mindfulness. I used to call it Dancing for Joy. But since we're all very familiar with the concept of mindfulness, it requires only a small stretch of the imagination to see how mindfulness applied to the whole moving body can have a marvelous effect. It's also described as Somatic movement.

It’s the fastest route to stillness, returning you to the inner river-of-life and at a pace and a rhythm that is nurturing for you. And believe me, anyone can discover this for themselves. You don't have to be a dancer to arrive there.

With the impulse to move arising from within, who's to judge whether it’s right or wrong, good or bad; it is as it is. You have total freedom to be spontaneous.

With the subtleties of movement taking priority over getting steps right, this practice creates a bridge to deeper intelligence which is impossible to language through words alone. Carl Jung called this engagement with the unconscious 'the active imagination'. To explore this way is both liberating and delicious - like arriving home to your playful self after a long time away.

Moving with Mindfulness is an embodied practice that awakens your creative spirit and refreshes your relationship with your living, breathing body. As you grow to recognise what it is you feel (through the sensations, intuitions, emotions and instincts that arise naturally), so too your trust in your yourself to know what's right for you grows.

When you over-ride these feelings because you don't understand their value or can't find a file to put them in can leave you disenchanted with life - and then wondering why.

If you'd like to find out more about what moves you please drop me a line: mary@marynonde.com or call 07827017188.

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How many of us have splashed out on purchases only to wish we hadn’t later? Sometimes we’re lucky and we can return or exchange them if we’re not feeling guilty about it! But what if this behaviour becomes more ominously compulsive?Please read how one courageous client, Susan O, speaks candidly about how she faced up to her problem - and addressed it.

“When I made my first vision board, things were not going well for me or my daughter; we both felt stuck in a rut and I was compensating with retail therapy. I’m a district nurse with a full-time job looking after people - and also a single mum.”

“One year on, I feel like a real visionary, living my life on a whole different level since I overhauled my home through de-cluttering and Feng Shui placement. My daughter has benefited enormously too and now participates in this activity. With her own vision board to inspire her, I have watched Laura grow stronger and become more confident every day, even taking on a job that would not have been possible before. Having left school early because of bullying, she has been awarded a distinction at the end of her first year in college.”

“For me Feng Shui & Decluttering is applied therapy. You’re not just sitting around talking about what you think and feel, you are actually doing the therapy on the hoof. It’s a dynamic process and there’s no avoiding change that results unless you just stop acting on the advice.”

“When I first started de-cluttering, I became acutely aware that I’d been acting out on my home what had been going on inside me. So the Feng Shui task became more than simply shifting pieces of furniture around. It’s like my cupboards were the inside of my head and Mary gently accompanied me to look inside them and unpack and get rid of what was no longer serving me.”

“Every time I handled something, I touched the emotion associated with it – so over time 12 months I was shedding the layers of shame and my mindset has improved accordingly, without me having to work at it.”

“It’s a very understated therapeutic approach yet utterly transformative and with immediate effect. Mary is a such a brilliant facilitator, non-intrusive, very allowing, not prescriptive, and with a huge sense of ethic.”

“I enjoyed each session for the rare occasion it gave me to focus on myself. I was enthusiastically engaged in creating a space where my vision could unfold. I feel as though I’ve fallen in love with myself and my creativity – and this is empowering. I've noticed that this shift is long-lasting and sustains even after the feng shui session is over.”

“I visit homes all the time and sometimes I see people who have far more than me. I feel very blessed and fortunate because the things I have around me now I have chosen with care and placed with awareness. And because there is so much more than before, I enjoy them even more.”

“Before I was buying more than I needed, trying to fill a void. I was burdened by the bags of shopping which created extra stress for me when I got home and had to find somewhere to put it all!” “It’s been so cathartic. I could never go backwards now.”

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